N1,008.84 trillion was released to the Nigerian Army between January 2019 and first of quarter 2021, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said on Tuesday.
The minister who appeared before the Senate Committee on Army said the ministry has been responsible and responsive in carrying out it’s statutory responsibilities and up-to-date with budget releases.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that the Senator Ali Ndume -led committee had invited the minister following complaint of N50 billion shortfall in the funds appropriated for the Army.
Ndume had cited a letter from the Chief of Defence Staff when the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties in the ministry, Aliyu Shinkafi, appeared before the committee last week.
However, giving the breakdown of disbursement, the minister said N129.69 billion (Capital Expenditure); N39.76 billion (Overhead Cost); N681.79 billion (Personnel Cost); and N157.6 billion (Special Releases) were released.
She said the ministry and the president accord priority to the fund provided for the Armed of Forces of Nigeria, adding that there has also been instances where the security services got special approvals outside the budget and the ministry expressly released same.
“In 2019, what was budgeted for the Nigerian Army was N19.6 billion, N12.84 billion was released, representing 64.37 per cent.
“In 2020, the total capital budget for the Nigerian Army was N34.37 billion and this amount was released 100 per cent.
“In 2021 (that is this current year), the total budget for the Nigerian Army is N29 billion as at April. We have released N17.98 billion of that, which is 68.92 per cent. It means we are on course to also release 100 per cent.
“There was an outside-of-budget spending because the need was higher than what was provided for in the budget. There was a total provision of N64.5 billion for procurement of military equipment that was provided for through special approval of Mr. President,” she said.
